March 2008
Saved in the Desert Plains
It was going to be a great day out in the desert, shooting targets with the guys when my uncle came down from Texas to visit a few summers ago. We had planned to take other relatives out to our family's desert property near Antelope Valley for some target shooting. It was going to be a day-long event. The ladies even wanted to join, and were more than welcome. I had checked the ammo cache, made sure we had enough safety gear, water, snacks, etc. We left early the next morning. We had left so early that we only remembered to load the van with what was waiting near the front door from the night before. While that included the guns and water, it included very little else. We had been there before, so there was no need to make a checklist, right? Upon my last check of my personal belongings (wallet, etc), I remember tapping my belt and noticing my Leatherman Wave was missing. Being so used to its weight and presence, I went back inside the house as the van's engine idled to pick it up, unfasten belt, and attach to my clothing. Happy, I left.
It was a nice drive to the desert, although quite long and the AC fought to keep up with the heat. We drove in quite a ways; or rather, quite a ways away from other humans and main roads. We unpacked the seats for the ladies and got them some cold drinks and waters; us guys got our weapons safe and set up the targets. We shot, talked about calibers and such. The ladies had fun talking about whatever they were giggling about back near the van. Time went by pretty quickly, as it does when you have fun. We took down the targets, cleaned up, and put the rifles and pistols 'safe' and back in the vehicle.
As we drove out on that bumpy terrain, I opened my phone to see if I had any missed calls. My cell reception was completely dead. Suddenly the van's engine revved and we stopped. We tried accelerating a few times but just kept digging into the dirt more and more so jumped out to look around. Somehow, someway, and for some reason, someone decided to lay some type of a heavy gauge barbed wire along the ground hidden in the sand. I tried to trace the wire but it was mounted underground somewhere and obviously was putting up a lot of strength. It was wrapped around various parts of the underneath of our van, including two wheels and a bar under the van. It appeared to be an intentional form of sabotage as it would not let the van move forward, and when we would accelerate enough to possibly snap it, our rear tires would dig deeper and deeper. I should mention that we were on a cavernous slope so the more material our tires chipped away, the less stable our vehicle was. I remembered I had my Wave and immediately removed it. I remember being very hot and thirsty and all the water was gone. I went to the wires immediately accessible near the tires and cut them with the hard wire cutters. It took a lot of strength and repeated attempts as each process only chipped and dented. I snapped them off, found where the wire came out of the ground, snapped it there as well and took it with us. This whole ordeal took a very long time as I was fitting pocket tool against industrial strength, galvanized wire which was very thick. Surprisingly, the Wave completed the task without any obvious signs of wear on the wire cutters.
We were able to finally drive off, though it was a quiet drive back minus the questions about my neat, life-saving tool. I've since purchased another Wave for my grandpa, a black Charge XTi, Skeletool, a couple Squirts, and others since I would like to have one everywhere in case of an emergency. Thank you for a great, quality tool!
Greg P.
Monrovia, CA
OK, you voyeur, you. Enough of reading other people's stories. It's time you told your own tale of gripping heroism or even just neat DIY'ism. We know there's a Shakespeare in you somewhere. Don't make us use the Steens to find it.